We Are Not The Dead: soldiers' faces before, during and after serving in Afghanistan

Second Lieutenant Struan Cunningham, 24

9 March, Edinburgh: "I am looking forward to getting out there.
This is what we have been training for."

12th June, PB Zeal, Nad-Ali: It is important to be confident on the
ground so there is no room to be scared to be honest. Training doesn't allow
for fears. The Afghans we are working with are good and it is satisfying
when they take on what you teach them. We are lucky that we have a good
tolay to work with here though. Not everyone does. I don't really miss
anything. Wait no, I miss rain and having cold water literally on tap.

14 October, Edinburgh: "In a contact you don’t have time to be scared
or excited, you just have to ride it out. In two and a half months I lost
four men to injury. The first time I wasn’t on patrol at the time and
it’s weird; you feel responsible that you weren’t out and you
can't do anything to support or help them. You’re just listening to it on
the radio. Helpless. It’s almost worse than being in the contact yourself.
Another time we got severely ambushed... that was the only time I thought,
‘this is it for me’. Now that I’m home, I think I’m a lot more calm.
I’ve seen the worst and I’ve seen things I do not want to see
again.You’re fighting for survival at the end of the day. I think
being in those kind of situations makes you realise you are pretty lucky
with your life, with what you have already so why flap about the most simple
of things